Wednesday, July 22, 2009

6 week check-up

We went to the doctor yesterday for Jacob's one month check-up (really it ended up being a 6 week checkup due to the doctor's schedule and our trip to the beach last week). We received a great report from the doctor. She said that Jacob is looking great and he passed all of his "tests".

Keith and I have been a bit concerned lately about Jacob having possible stomach issues. He tends to spit up & need to burp A LOT and he also seems to be in a lot of discomfort at times - he will cry in the middle of a feeding, he sometimes wakes up out of a deep sleep and starts crying, and he also has this awful grunting sound that he makes when he is fussy. I addressed this with the doctor and she didn't seem overly concerned. Part of that is because Jacob weighed in at a whopping 12 lbs, 3 oz! This puts him in the 75th percentile for his weight and the doctor said if he were having troubles with his stomach, he would not have gained that much weight (almost 5 lbs in a month!). She said that it could be a milk allergy and that would mean that I would have to cut out all milk products from my diet. But she said that was it, he would be fussy all the time and that is not the case. She said that some babies just have more problems with their stomachs and anal areas developing and getting used to the digestion process. She assured me that all of it would get better by the time he is 3 months old.

He measured 21 3/4 inches long, which puts him in the 25th percentile for length. The doctor said that a lot of babies start out with higher weight percentiles and lower length and then they "even out" around one year old when they start walking. I guess the fact that Keith and I aren't super tall also doesn't help Jacob's chances of being a tall person. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

He did have to get three shots while we were at the doctor. These would normally be given when he is two months old, but since he is six weeks old, the doctor said it was safe to give them to him now (this way we wouldn't have to go back to get them in two weeks). Jacob didn't like the shots at all - which wasn't suprising. He cried pretty hard, but I think it was a combination of pain and the fact that he was laying on his back on the exam table. He had fallen asleep and gotten really comfy in my arms while we were waiting for the nurse to come in with the shots and then he freaked out when I set him down on the table. Thankfully, he calmed down right away when I picked him up and cuddled with him afterwards. He fell asleep on the way home from the doctor's office and he slept for about an hour.

He was super fussy last night and I am sure that getting the shots had something to do with that. Keith and I were out to dinner with some friends and he started screaming in the restaurant and couldn't be calmed down for what seemed like a long time (I was really concerned about the other people in the restaurant - I didn't want them to be bothered while they were trying to enjoy their meal). Keith and I took turns walking around outside with him and eventually he calmed down enough for us to finish up and pay the bill. He did fall asleep after his 10 o'clock feeding but he was up crying at 1am, 2am, 3am, and 4am. Thankfully he fell asleep after a feeding at 4:30am and slept until about 8:30am. He seems to be doing good this morning so I am hoping that the pain and uncomfortableness associated with the shots is now gone!

All in all, Jacob is a great baby and I love seeing how he is changing every day. I can't wait to see what new and exciting things are in his future!

1 comment:

Kristen said...

Hooray for good check-ups! It's so great to hear that Jacob is growing, and I'll be praying that his belly issues are resolved soon.